1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the management of media content. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for unlocking content associated with media.
2. Background Art
Developments in the technology for supporting information processing and delivery have made more content more widely available to consumers than ever before. As the richness and variety of that content has grown, so too have the expectations of consumers, so that a consumer may now typically expect to be able to access a desired content across multiple formats, and/or be provided with supplemental content or other associated content capable of enriching or extending the consumption experience.
In the case of digitally recorded content, for example, it is now quite common for entertainment content provided on a digital video disc (DVD) or high-definition optical disc, such as a Blu-ray disc, for example, to be distributed as a content bundle including primary content and supplemental content associated with the primary content. For instance, primary content comprising a movie may be bundled with supplemental content related to the making of the movie, biographies of actors and actresses featured in the movie, alternate scenes omitted from the primary version of the movie, and the like. In addition, in some instances the primary content may be bundled with associated content not packaged and distributed with the primary content, but available to the purchaser of the primary content through another distribution channel.
Consider, for example, the previously introduced scenario in which primary movie content is distributed for commercial sale as a DVD. In that instance, associated content may include the primary content in another media format, such as streaming media available for consumption and/or download over the Internet, for example. Alternatively, associated content may comprise other movies thematically related to the primary movie content, or a music soundtrack of the primary movie content. In any of those situations, the consumer of the primary content may have the opportunity to access the associated content by virtue of their purchase of the primary content. The purchased DVD may have encoded onto it an access code or other authentication data that the consumer may utilize to identify themselves as being in possession of the DVD and therefore entitled to access the associated content on the agreed upon terms. As a result, the consumer may enjoy an extended consumption experience through access to the associated supplemental content.
However, media distributed to consumers in certain more traditional formats predating the recent trend towards content bundling may not readily lend themselves to such an extendable consumption experience. Due in part to the use of batch production for much of this content, as well as the requirement that the content be directly readable by a human consumer, content such as traditional printed media, for example, may be difficult or prohibitively expensive to mark individually with unique authentication symbols. This is problematic, however, because printed media, such as books and magazines, are physically bulky formats having a relatively low content density, so that the ability to associate the purchased content with separate but associated supplemental content may be especially desirable in these very situations in which it is most difficult to accomplish.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show conventional solutions for providing a consumer of media with an authentication key to unlock associated content. Conventional package 100a, in FIG. 1A, includes media 102, in the form of a book, enclosed in wrapper 106. As shown in FIG. 1A, authentication key 104, which may be an alphanumeric code, for example, is printed onto or attached to wrapper 106. Wrapper 106 may be a shrinkwrap cover protecting media 102 during distribution or display, for example. Authentication key 104 may be air printed onto wrapper 106, or printed onto an adhesive label affixed to wrapper 106. A consumer in possession of package 100a can enjoy media 102, and utilize authentication key 104 to access, or unlock, supplemental content associated with media 102.
Turning to FIG. 1B, conventional package 100b in that figure includes media 102, again represented as a book, and authentication key 104 provided on insert 108, which is distributed with media 102. As in the previous figure, a consumer in possession of package 100b may enjoy media 102, and utilize authentication key 104 to access, or unlock, supplemental content associated with media 102. One advantage of the conventional solutions shown by FIGS. 1A and 1B is that otherwise indistinguishable units of packaged media, such as multiple copies of the book represented by media 102, are rendered distinctive and identifiable by being distributed with a physically separable object, i.e., wrapper 106 or insert 108, which bears a unique authentication key.
The disadvantages associated with the solutions shown by FIGS. 1A and 1B are several and significant, however. For example, because for both packages 100a and 100b, authentication key 104 is provided on an object separable from media 102, and produced independently from media 102, those separable objects, i.e., wrapper 106 or insert 108, must be combined with media 102 prior to their distribution to a consumer. That required combining step may be labor or resource intensive, as well as time consuming, and may represent a substantial additional production or distribution cost. In addition, and perhaps even more disadvantageously, because authentication key 104 is not bonded to media 102, but rather to physically separable wrapper 106 or insert 108, authentication key 104 may fairly readily be separated from media 102.
Separation of authentication key 104 from media 102 can have undesirable consequences for the consumer as well as for the producer and/or distributor of media 102. For example, the consumer may be disadvantaged through loss of access to supplemental content associated with media 102, when authentication key 104 is separated from media 102 either intentionally, through theft of wrapper 106 or insert 108 during distribution and display, or inadvertently, through discard or loss of those separate objects by the consumer. Moreover, the producer and/or distributor may suffer harm as a result of unauthorized distribution of supplemental content to individuals in improper possession of authentication key 104, again, as a result of theft during distribution and display, or, alternatively, through intentional sharing of authentication key 104 by the consumer. In instances in which a purchasing consumer is deprived of or loses authentication key 104, the producer and/or distributor may additionally suffer a loss of good will from the consumer, which may negatively affect the prospects of future purchases of other products offered by the producer and/or distributor of media 102.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a new solution to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the conventional approaches for authenticating media.